Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (12:08): I thank the Prime Minister for his words and for working with the opposition to bring this motion to parliament. All of us were moved by the Rirratjingu dancers from Yirrkala who performed out the front of Parliament House this morning. I understand they all paid for their own trip here. Last Friday, in Nhulunbuy, I understand that they had raised thousands of dollars for White Ribbon and NO MORE. We are graced in this parliament by Aboriginal leaders who were walking the walk. The dance this morning was beautifully performed and told a story of two sisters, two strong women, who set about creating country and creating clan. It was a special dance dedicated to women and children, dedicated to the notion of strong women, because traditional culture has always respected and revered women and children. The problems we face now are more modern ones. A bit over three months ago at the Garma Festival in East Arnhem I had the privilege of meeting with Marcia Langton and Josephine Cashman and listening to their panel discussion with local hero and much-loved Grandstand footy commentator Charlie King. On that hot day, 4,300 kilometres from here, each of those leaders spoke with a burning honesty and urgency. They told us that it was time for men to stand up against violence to women and children. Their words carried authenticity, passion and the clarity of people who will stand up to injustice, who fought disadvantage up close and who have witnessed the inhumanity that violence exhibits. With every uncomfortable and confronting truth they told, it became clear to all of us in that spellbound privileged audience that this was no tale of hardship and no plea for empathy; it was simply a call for action. When they finished, everyone rose as one, black and white, elders and children, to link arms and to promise 'No more'. Today we bring that pledge to this place, to the house of the Australian people. Let us bring something of that unflinching honesty, too, and the courage to face facts, to recognise our failures and to realise that we must do more than listen; we must act. Violence against women does not discriminate. It is no respecter of postcode, religion, race, ethnicity, culture or income. Yet, by any measure and on every indicator, the rates of family violence suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children are the source of national shame. The Prime Minister detailed the shocking numbers to the House earlier. When it comes to family violence, we are two Australias. Aboriginal women endure family violence more often. They go without legal assistance more often. They are unable to find secure accommodation more often. They are hospitalised because of their injuries more often. And they die more often. Children from homes broken by violence carry the invisible scars of neglect. Many end up in out-of-home care, where the Aboriginal population has grown by 440 per cent in the last 20 years. They lead different lives to their peers, lives of trauma—and this is intergenerational injustice. We in this place do not have the luxury of shrugging our shoulders and just dismissing such inequality as inevitable. We are not entitled to be complacent and say that one Australian's misfortune is someone else's responsibility. We cannot choose to pass by on the other side of the road. We owe it to ourselves, to the nation we imagine ourselves to be and the nation that we want our children to see in the mirror, to right this wrong. From the communities themselves, from the mouths of elders, has come the call: Link up; no more! Violence has no place in culture and it must stop. Women and children must be cherished, respected and honoured.' These words have been repeated on local ovals and echoed in national stadiums, arms joined, linking up from the northern tip of our nation to here in the capital, for promise, an acceptance of responsibility and an acknowledgment that violence against women is perpetuated by men and, until men change—change our attitudes, change our actions, change our example—nothing will change. This morning, all of us linked arms in a demonstration of common purpose, as proof that we are unified in our determination to eliminate family violence from every corner of this country and to work together—Liberal, Labor, National, the crossbench, the First Australians and all who have followed—until family violence truly is no more. I congratulate Charlie King on his pursuit of an endeavour which has taken 10 years. Like all of us who participated today, when we have these moments of standing together, we wonder sometimes why it took so long to arrive at that point. But that moment cannot be the end of the matter. This motion cannot go into the Hansard to simply gather dust. The nice words we used today cannot simply vanish into an archive of ritual sentiment to use at another time. We owe our first Australian—we owe all Australians—more than mere words, more than a vague promise to do better. Women and children must have the same rights and the same access to justice no matter who they are or where they live. That means working in every community at the grassroots with locals to support programs like the NO MORE campaign to change behaviour, attitudes and social norms. We must throw our powerful national support behind the men and women in each community who are driving this change and setting the example—like Uncle Alfred Smallwood, Gail Mabo and, of course, Charlie King. The commissioner of the Northern Territory Police, Reece Kershaw, who is here in Canberra today, will tell you that because of Charlie and the community leadership and that program there has been a 25 per cent plus reduction in police call-outs related to family violence in Yirrkala. We should look at every program that the federal government administers and its effect on women and children. We do this in international development with 80 per cent of the programs we fund through DFAT because we know it works. We should be prepared to use a gender lens when we look at investments in Indigenous affairs to see the effect on women and children. Today, let us extend the meaning of NO MORE to this chamber: no more deaths, no more women driven from their homes, no more children forced into out-of-home care, no more communities broken by violence, no more cuts to legal aid and family violence shelters, no more ignoring the voices from the front line, no more talking about Aboriginal people without listening to Aboriginal people, no more excuses for inaction. No more. Debate adjourned.